Expanding the New Jersey myocardial infarction data acquisition system to include stroke patients

Although the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation became a national philanthropy in 1972 and has operated on a national scale since then, it also has continued funding a limited number of local institutions and projects in the New Brunswick area and throughout New Jersey. It does so in part to honor the legacy of its founder, and in part to recognize the special responsibilities to the communities and the state in which it is located.Cardiovascular disease, which includes high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure and stroke, has been the number one killer in the United States throughout the entire 20th century and retains this distinction now into the 21st century. The Myocardial Infarction Data Acquisition System (MIDAS) at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (UMDNJ-RWJMS) is the only statewide acute myocardial infarction (AMI) database with longitudinal follow-up for mortality, cause of death, recurrent hospitalization, and diagnostic and interventional invasive cardiac procedures. This grant will help UMDNJ-RWJMS to maintain and annually update the AMI data and to expand MIDAS to include the 17,000 New Jersey patients who suffer strokes annually. The MIDAS database will yield significant information regarding differences in the diagnosis, management and prognosis of acute stroke based on race, gender, insurance, geographic location, educational levels, socioeconomic background and minority status.